Configuring syslog on ESXi fails with error "A general system error occurred: Internal error while reconfiguring the syslog file".

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi
• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

• In vSphere Client UI attempts configuring the global logging dir parameter on a ESXi host throws an error as ""A general system error occurred: Internal error while reconfiguring the syslog file".
• The log directory must exist before configuring the global logging dir parameter. If the folder specified as <DirectoryName> does not exist, configuring Syslog.global.logDir parameter will fail with "Internal error" in the UI and "Logdir must exist and be a directory" error message in log file ESXi - /var/run/log/hostd.log. 

In /var/run/log/hostd.log , the following entry was observed; 
yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss Er(163) Hostd[2210794]: [Originator@6876 sub=Hostsvc.VFlashManager opID=######] GetVffsInVFlashResource: VFFS volume [########-########-#####-############] does not exist.

Environment

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Cause

The syslog configuration failure was that the target datastore, although visible in vCenter, was not actually mounted or connected to the specific ESXi host. Therefore, the host could not find the specified location to reconfigure the syslog file.

Resolution

• In vSphere client go to Datastore> Configure> Connectivity and Multipathing.
• Select the host and mount the datastore. 

Now re-try to configure the logging dir under Host> Configure> Advanced settings> Syslog.global.logDir per - Has the format '[DatastoreName] DirectoryName' which maps to /vmfs/volumes/<DatastoreName>/<DirectoryName>/.

Additional Information

Configuring Local and Remote Logging using Advanced Configuration options.